WINGED LEADER could seek to extend his winning run in 2024 to 14 consecutive victories, as he is among nine entries for tomorrow’s novice rider open lightweight in Ballycrystal.

That comes just six days after his handler, David Christie, was victorious in his own right when announced as the winner in the point-to-point category at this year’s HRI Awards for his handling of the 10-year-old son of Winged Love.

There was tough competition for the prize at the Round Room in Dublin’s Mansion House, with riders Rob James, Barry O’Neill and Shane Cotter also nominated, alongside handler Emmet Mullins, but there could be no doubting the Fermanagh handler’s credentials to the award.

Last season, Winged Leader was crowned champion point-to-pointer, the third different horse that Christie has saddled to claim that prize in the past five years, following Eddies Miracle in 2020 and Some Man in 2022, and he did so having won nine races, the second-highest total of wins to have claimed that title since it was introduced in 2012.

Those nine wins were among a total of 19 open races that Christie won last season, as the dominant force within that division, and many of those victories contributed to several other title successes within the riding ranks.

Joint champions Barry O’Neill and Rob James were just two of the title winners last season to have ridden winners for the Fermanagh handler, with Susie Doyle, Maxine O’Sullivan, Shane Cotter and Alan O’Sullivan all doing likewise.

Highlighted

Maxine O’Sullivan highlighted that point, when she was one of several people featured in a pre-recorded video shown to Christie, while he was on stage collecting his prize at the beginning of the week.

Recalling how, before she had even started riding, she quickly became aware of how feared the horses that he would bring down from Fermanagh to contest open races at her local track in Dromahane were, the seven-time ladies champion has now become such a key part of the Winged Leader story.

The package also included input from two of Christie’s leading owners, John Hegarty and Ray Nicholas, alongside his son, David junior, who highlighted the similarities between his father’s attitude and that of those horses, such as Winged Leader, that he has excelled with campaigning. It is hard to disagree with that.

THE open lightweight division produced bumper fields last weekend, with many connections of horses within the category clearly viewing the races at both Ballindenisk and Borris House, as their last opportunities to get a run into their horses during the autumn term.

No fewer than 17 horses contested the open at Ballindenisk last Sunday, with the Borris House contest, restricted to novice riders, fielding a healthy 12 runners from an initial 20 entries.

The focus is very much on maiden races this weekend, with 14 of the 18 races scheduled across the three venues being confined to maidens, with Ballycrystal hosting the only open of the weekend, and it has not proved as popular, attracting just nine entries.

As those keepers of open horses look further ahead, many will be looking to the hunter chase arena later in the spring and the opportunities that they could find there. With Easter falling later in the calendar next year, the hunter chase programme is particularly busy in the second half of April, as the Easter races at both Fairyhouse and Cork back into the Punchestown Festival.

At the upper end of the division, the Joseph O’Reilly at Fairyhouse is scheduled for April 19th, followed 48 hours later by the Jack Tyner Memorial. This is just 11 days ahead of the Champion Hunter Chase at Punchestown.

There was a full month between the latter two races last year when Lifetime Ambition came close to completing the double, coming up short against Its On The Line at Punchestown, having won the Cork feature by 11 lengths.

It will be unlikely to see horses take in both races, and the two feature hunter chases across the Easter weekend could be open to targeting.

Point-to-point ratings

HAVING saddled a first winner in his own name at Curraghmore just over a month earlier, Eamonn Doyle added a first official four-year-old winner to his early haul at Ballindenisk, and it was achieved in impressive fashion.

In a strongly-run opening split of the four-year-old maiden, his King’s Bucks (94+) was one of two smart-looking prospects that pulled 10 lengths clear of their rivals, with Doyle’s French-bred showing a great attitude to prevail narrowly, clocking a time that was 11 seconds quicker than the second division.

Walk Tall (90++) won this from the front, posting a particularly professional round of jumping for a first-time-out four-year-old. Although possessing an imposing physique, he is certainly nimble when it comes to his jumping, and that proved to be an asset as he won going away with plenty seemingly in hand.

At Borris House, there was no previous placed form among the six horses with previous experience in the four-year-old mares’ maiden, so it was no surprise that it was a newcomer, Heron In The Park (82+), who prevailed.

Strongly-run race

Patient tactics were rewarded here in what was quite a strongly-run race, where the first four home ended up being spread out by over 44 lengths, Donnchadh Doyle’s mare asserted her superiority from the second-last fence and won without having to be fully extended.

Rob James was also aboard Hold The Serve (92+), who claimed the first division of the geldings’ equivalent, and the path to victory mirrored his previous winner, albeit this victor surrendered lengths at each of the final two fences.

All three four-year-old maiden races on the card were won by hold-up horses, with Cosmos D’Ainay (90++) completing the hat-trick, and he is valued for more than the two-and-a-half-length winning margin.